Reine Africaine Podcast

Mary is a chemical Engineer and cosmetic scientist. She started out her brand to fill in the gap for skincare products that specifically cater to people of colour. Having faced her own battles with her skin, she struggled to find the right products.

 In this episode we discussed the global beauty industries lack of representation, and possible  solutions to the problem.

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Sliq formerly know as Fro beauty was started in 2021. Zainab got the idea for the after she had a bad reaction to a product she bought in Nigeria. It motivated her to learn more about the business of beauty. 

Sliq is on a mission to redefine the textured hair experience. She reveals her own natural hair journey. Zainab revealed something very surprising about her personal natural hair journey. 

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Omoehi’s beauty business journey started out with her formulating products in her dorm room at university, and that’s when she knew she was going to fully launch her own company. Although, Mohini Beauty only launched in 2020. It’s years in the making.  She about the importance of creating a makeup brand that caters to black women. 

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Ruqayya started raw beauty in 2017. She suffered from eczema at a young age and the products she used weren’t effective. She turned to more natural alternatives. Raw beauty is an eco-luxury beauty brand that believes in clean beauty. The products are formulated using natural ingredients from Northern Nigeria. 

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Doyin started her brand because she couldn’t find an affordable eyebrow pencil in Nigeria. Mac’s brow pencil was too expensive when converted to Naira. Her “Browgasm” product blew up. She grew up with a lot of beauty products and magazines. The business has since changed its name from “beauty line by Didi”to “Didibeauty”.

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Abiola launched Modara naturals officially in 2015. The products are handmade using 100% natural ingredients. Many of the ingredients are sourced from Africa. We spoke about the importance of empowering local communities on the continent by sourcing ingredients from farmers.  As usual, we discussed one of the most important issues in beauty, colourism, and how widespread it is. It is not only a problem in Africa, but also Asia. It brought us back to the biggest why behind the Reine Africaine brand.

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Season Finale!! 

Violet described how building Byote had given her purpose. During the lockdown she had a lightbulb moment. Her favourite brands had closed, and she realised that the seeds in which oils are extracted from by the international brands are grown in Africa. That is when she decided to go into prodution. Byote places a huge emphasis on bringing non mainstream oils to the market. Their seeds are from local farmers in the north. 

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 Majiri studied chemical engineering, because she always wanted to be an entrepreneur. She knew that chemical engineering would give her the problem solving skills needed to run a company.  After graduating from university in the U.K she worked at a factory. The factory decided to ban weaves. She cried because she had no clue what she was going to do to her hair. She eventually realised that she did not need to relax her hair anymore. 

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NB Skincare was founded in 2019. Mayowa always had issues with acne and hyperpigmentation. She decided to study a masters in cosmetic science and fragrance in France. During her masters, she learnt how to formulate products and the business side of skincare. Many international brands did not work on her skin as well as her products. Her educational background allows her to be hands on in her brand. 

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Growing up in London, Fikayo always knew she wanted to be her own boss and run her own company. She decided to move to Nigeria to make this dream a reality, seeing as developing economies have more opportunities. We spoke about whether one should chase "passion" or "purpose" and the issues with being "passion" driven. 

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